1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a portable information terminal device cradle apparatus having a connector for connection with a portable information terminal device.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is known to use a cradle apparatus such that an electronic camera is placed on the cradle apparatus and the electronic camera is connected to the cradle apparatus via connectors thereof to supply electric power to the electronic camera from the cradle apparatus and/or to perform communication between the electronic camera and the cradle apparatus.
For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-333403 discloses an electronic camera capable of being placed on a cradle, in a position different from that in which the electronic camera is used in a normal mode. The cradle designed to cradle the electronic camera has a cradle connector disposed on the bottom of a camera attaching unit and adapted to be electrically connected to a connector for connection with an external device, disposed on the electronic camera.
A system is known in which image data stored in an electronic camera (hereinafter also referred to as a digital camera) is transferred to a storage device such as an optical disk device or a magnetic disk device or to a printer via a cradle without passing through a host computer, to storage the image data on the storage device or to print the image data by the printer.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-335023 discloses a printer capable of printing desired image data. This printer can store a large number of images captured by the digital camera on a general-purpose external storage device without using a mass storage device disposed in a computer. More specifically, the printer has a first input port adapted to receive a user interface and a memory card is connected via a cable to an optical magnetic disk AV deck having the user interface, and the optical magnetic disk AV deck is connected to a TV monitor via the cable.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-374447 discloses a cradle apparatus having a memory card slot for use by an information device or the digital camera or having a built-in hard disk. This cradle apparatus further has a speaker, an audio output terminal, a device attaching part for removably holding an information device, and communication means for communicating with the information device attached to the device attaching part. The cradle apparatus also has display means for displaying information (such as an image) on a liquid crystal display in accordance with data received from the information device via the communication means. When devices are connected in a state that allows image data to be transferred from a PC (Personal Computer) connected to the cradle apparatus via a USB (Universal Serial Bus) connection terminal to the memory card disposed in the camera or the cradle apparatus or to a large-capacity storage device (such as a hard disk device) and stored therein, the liquid crystal display is automatically turned off by control means disposed in the cradle apparatus.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-283975 discloses details of a structure of a cradle apparatus. For example, an LED 5 is turned on/off in accordance with a command transmitted from the digital camera via an LED-CTR terminal. When a button on the cradle apparatus is pressed, a request for starting of a USB communication is transmitted to the digital camera. When a CPU in the digital camera receives the request, the CPU outputs image data and attribute data from the digital camera 1. The output image data and attribute data are acquired by the PC via the cradle apparatus. The cradle apparatus also has a selector for switching between a charging unit and a second connector.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-350143 discloses an image recording/reproducing apparatus in which the CPU for controlling an infrared communication controller is installed in the cradle or the digital camera for user's ease of use. When this image recording/reproducing apparatus is not connected to a DVD recording/reproducing apparatus for storing image data, image data stored in the memory card or the like of the digital camera can be displayed on a television set.
In a conventional portable information terminal device with the cradle, such as the electronic camera, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) device, or a photo viewer for viewing a photo image with audio data, communication between the portable information terminal device and the host computer is performed in accordance with the USB communication standard, and a peripheral device such as the printer can be connected to the cradle.